As I sat down to enjoy a massive plate of this scrumptious dish, I was taken back to my childhood when my great uncle would come over to our home to play cards with my dad and grandfather. It was the norm back then that whenever he visited my mom had to prepare this “oil-down” dish since he looked forward to it every visit. Additionally… as a boy my dad grew up on the family’s cocoa and coffee estate, so breadfruit was one of the staple foods my great grandmother would prepare for him along with green banana’s and other ground provisions (yam, dasheen, eddoes.. etc). He passed on his love for this “put meat on your bones” type of food to me and my brother. My sister’s are a different story.

Though this is not a traditional “oil down” way of preparing breadfruit, I’m sure it can qualify on some level since the key ingredients of meat, breadfruit and coconut milk are all used. Here’s my take on this time-honored meal.

We’ll start by cutting the pork into small pieces. Then with some water in the bowl with the pork pieces, pour in the juice of the lime (lemon or the vinegar) and wash the pieces of meat. Rinse with a new batch of water and squeeze dry. We’ll then move on to seasoning the meat. Basically you’re adding everything in the ingredient list except the oil, breadfruit, sugar and coconut milk.

In a heavy, deep pot heat the oil on medium to high heat. When the oil is hot add the brown sugar and move around with a cooking spoon (make sure the spoon is dry). We’re trying to get the sugar to go bubbly and golden to dark brown (see pics below). Since this is an important step (easy to burn) it’s important that you have the seasoned pork close so you can add it as soon as the sugar reaches a caramelized state. When the sugar get to the colour you see in the final pic below, start adding the pieces of pork. Be careful as you’re adding meat with moisture to very hot oil/sugar.

Quickly (but carefully) add the pieces of seasoned meat to the pot and stir so everything gets coated with the caramelized sugar. Turn the heat down to medium/low and cover the pot. Allow this to cook covered for about 30 minutes… it will spring it’s own natural juices so you don’t have to worry about it burning or sticking. If you find that the liquid is drying fast, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Stir occasionally!

While this cooks let’s prepare the breadfruit. You’ll notice that I said “full” breadfruit in the ingredients list. Basically this means a fully mature, but not ripe breadfruit. A fully mature breadfruit will have a lovely buttery texture when cooked. Cut the bread fruit into 6-8 wedges as I’ve done in the pics below. Now with a sharp pairing knife or potato peeler, peel away the skin and discard. The final step is to remove the core off the wedges (usually soft and not solid in texture). Now place in a bowl with water until you’re ready to add to the pot with the pork.

We’ve now been simmering the pork for about 30 minutes so it’s time to “fry it down” (burn off all the liquid) by turning up the heat to high. As the liquid burns off you’ll notice 2 things. 1 the colour of the meat will go a bit darker and 2. it will start to stick to the bottom of the pot. Keep stirring until all the liquid is gone and you can see oil at the bottom of the pot.

Add the pieces of breadfruit to the pot and pour in the coconut milk. As soon as you can tell that it’s come to a boil, turn down the heat to the lowest your stove can go so it’s a very gentle simmer. Try to stir the pot a little to release anything that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot when we had the heat on high. Allow this to simmer gently for about 30 minutes (try to stir a couple times, but be gentle as not to break-up the pieces of breadfruit). Normally my mom would place some dasheen bush leaves on top of everything to allow it to steam-cook (I’ve also seen her put cabbage leaves when she didn’t have dasheen bush), but in this simplified recipe we’ll use the pot’s lid to help seal in the juices.

After about 30 minutes you should have little or no juices at the bottom of the pot and the meat should be tender and the pieces of breadfruit fully cooked and infused with the flavours of the coconut milk plus the stewed pork.

This is a one pot meal that’s very filling. Serve hot and watch your guests lick their chops!

Tip: If you’re like me and love the flavour of ginger but hate biting into the ginger pieces, slice it thick so you can see it easily when the dish is done to be removed before serving.

If you have any questions relating to this or any of the recipes on the site, please leave me a comment below and I’ll try my best to answer. Since I do manage several other websites there may be a delay, but I promise to get to it. You may even get an answer from others who visit the site on a daily basis as well. Additionally, if you have another way of preparing this dish, be sure to share it with us.

Hi Chris u dish look delicious.
My mother used to make something similar like your.
Stew chicken and breadfruit
Sometimes she fried the bread the breadfruit or boil or roast it.
Thanks for all your great recipes.

Hi Chris Linda here, I just wanted to say this as all your recipies are just great. I will surely try this but, since I’m not a fan of pork I think I will use chicken. Chris what else could be served with this dish.?

Great recipe! Been wondering how else to cook breadfruit, usually roast, then fry it and eat with cook up saltfish. As our parents get older, the recipes get forgotten. As my granny once said, ‘every time an old person dies, its as if a library has burned down. We need to remember to past the recipes onto our children, even write them down. I live in Brixton, London, UK. In Brixton we have our famous market that sells all our food from home. Thanks for all your time and effort. It’s good to see the website grow.

Think of it like this: Bread Fruit is to West Indians/Caribbean people and more as to what the White Potatoes is to North Americans and others. Breadfruit is just Much More Nutritionally rich and very versatile in what you can do with it. Anything you can do with a Potato, you can do the same with Breadfruit. Every wary you can cook a Potato, you can do the same with Breadfruit. So think of all the ways you can use a Potato to make any kind of dish with the Potato and you can very well do the same with a Breadfruit.

Also Breadfruit is supper packed with very good Nutrition and amino acids. One Breadfruit has as much Potassium packed into it as (10) Bananas. Just one Cup of Breadfruit can have about 1000mg of Potassium. Breadfruit is one the very richest food source packed with Potassium which is good for hearth and blood vessel circulation health. Not so much the average White Potato that allot of people consume. So if your eating lots of Breadfruit which also gives quite a bit of energy, your also getting lots of rich Potassium which helps keep your hearth/blood vessels healthy and also counteract High Blood Pressure.

I usually make my oil down using salted meat like pigtail or salt beef. Try it with the salted meat, it is out of this world. Also add a few ochroes and a hot pepper making sure the pepper don't burst in the pot.

You can also use brown sugar coloring already made & bottled. The brand I use is Guyanese Pride.
Save a lot guess work, just add till you get the color desired. i also use it in my Black Cake at Christmas time.
love your recipes by the way!!!

Great website – and good recipe. I can point anyone on this board to good spots to buy breadfruit/panapén in both NYC and Chicago, if anyone is looking. It used to be almost impossible to find fresh breadfruit in the U.S., but lately I've been starting to see alot of it.

Try a Caribbean/West Indian/Latino Grocery store or ethnic grocery store in your city. You can even try an African Grocery store also as they often have Caribbean stuff just like a caribbean grocery store. Breadfruit is a tropical Fruit/Vegetable so it will be carried by those kind of stores that reflect the people of that region most usually. And if you can’t find it there i’m sure someone working there knows where you can likely find it.

The first time I ate an oil down was in Grenada and you're right it had pigtail, coconut milk, breadfruit, etc.
Without a doubt the best foods of Grenada is Oil Down and crab back.. OH MAN!!!! Bring back memories living in Grenada…..

Chris….my grandmother was the best cook in Trinidad when i was a kid and no body could make an oil down like she…..she use to put pigtail in with the breadfruit and coconut milk and a whole pepper and boi did it taste good…that is how i do it now never had with stew pork always with saltfish…as a lover of pork i will try it out….ah gone

Hello Chris. This recepe sure looks nice and I will try it one day. A good breadfruit is far and few between and hard to find . They are imported and not very nice most times. Hope to find a good one soon. Thanks for the lovely recipes you put on for our enjoyment.

HI CHRIS I LIVE IN TRINIDAD AND WE GET BREADFRUIT ALL THE TIME, THANKS FOR SHARING THIS RECIPE. i USUALLY MAKE OIL DOWN
, BUT NEVER STEW IT BEFORE . I WILL SURELY TRY THIS . IT LOOKS GOOD. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS I MAY USE LAMB NECK OR CHICKEN.

Hi Chris, I must say that your dish look really tasty it made me feel like eating some right now. I do make Oil Down sometimes but I'd use Pig Tail, anyhow I'll try your recipe soon maybe tomorrow if I do go to the grocery and get the meat. Thanks again Chris for those wonderful recipes and do have a good day.